Page 16 of Hard Heart

“It’s a limited suspect pool, but somehow, there are still too many suspects. People described Norquist as nice and Sykes as screwed up, but other than that, I can’t see why they homed in on Sykes as the main suspect.”

“It was the sex.”

“Circumstantial evidence. He admitted that he slept with her, and his DNA would be all over the house anyway. He lived there.”

“Well, I think the parents were involved,” Heidi said. Theory Six had been her idea, and Theory Seven. She said that if I had Dupré and Torres, then Masters and de Luca should be on there, even though neither of them ran a “private members’” club. “One of his classmates said Levi’s mom used to kiss him on the lips when she dropped him off at school. Don’t you think that’s creepy?”

“It’s definitely unusual.”

“What if she got jealous of Ruby for stealing Levi away from her and decided to eliminate the competition?”

“She wasn’t in the house. The police were certain of that.”

“So she paid Justin, and then things went wrong because Levi hooked up with Ruby, and that’s why Mr. and Mrs. Sykes hired all those high-priced lawyers.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Norquist knew the cameras were there, and that he’d be a logical suspect. I can understand him stabbing Costello in a fit of anger, but not for money when there was a fifty-fifty chance of him going to jail. And wouldn’t Levi’s parents have made sure he wasn’t at home?”

“One article said he wasn’t meant to be there. He was supposed to be eating dinner with his parents, but he cancelled at the last minute.”

“That isn’t on the board.”

She held up a notepad. “These are the bits I need to add, but I only want to get up once.”

“How’s your ankle feeling?”

“I’m planning to go back to work on Monday.”

“What happened to ‘rest for three to six weeks’?”

“Mondays are always slow.” Her weak smile said what her words didn’t—she was still in plenty of pain. “Don’t worry about me.”

“If you need to take more time, I still have that extra money from my ex’s dad.”

Since the accident, the two of us had spent more time talking, and if nothing else, this unexpected detour in life had helped me to make a new friend. I’d told her about Rudd and Zara Michaels and Lloyd Bester’s half-arsed apology cheque, and she’d told me about her mum’s scatterbrained boyfriend and the father who’d skipped town three months after she was born. Heidi had a survival instinct I’d never encountered in the stuffy private school I’d attended back home.

“You should get the transcript,” she told me. “I’ll be okay. What if Levi’s innocent?”

“Sykes doesn’t need to stress about paying the rent. We do.”

“I’m eighty percent sure I’ll be able to walk by next week, and now I’m invested. Maybe we could start a podcast?”

“We’re not starting a podcast, and I’ll only order the transcript if you let me put any leftover money towards your medical bill.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine.”

CHAPTER 7

SERAFINA

It was here. A pile of paper three inches thick that had cost me a year’s worth of grocery money. Correction: it had cost Lloyd Bester a year’s worth of grocery money. But had it really? His favourite food was filet mignon, and he thought champagne was a soft drink, so he surely spent that much on groceries in a month, and… Anyway, the transcript felt dirty. Dirty because I’d paid for it with the equivalent of blood money, dirty because I’d gone behind Raelene’s back to obtain it, dirty because I was spending more time thinking about a convicted murderer than was healthy.

So, guess what I’d be doing this weekend?

And probably next weekend, and the one after that.

Heidi was back at work now, wearing long boots so she could keep her ankle strapped up. She’d practised several of her routines at home to check she could get through them, and until now, I’d never really thought about the skill level of a stripper. She managed to be strong, flexible, and sexy all at the same time, and she held a perfect smile through the pain. Jokingly, I’d tried to copy one of her routines and fell hard on my backside. She’d lent me an ice pack.

My phone rang; Mum again. I turned the ringer down and blew out a breath. She’d undoubtedly want to know if I was coming home for Christmas, and I wasn’t ready for that discussion yet.